All those control surfaces are deflected to help get that nose pointed up the second it leaves the ship... a very important thing to have happen. As the vertical stabs are angled outwards, deflecting both rudders inwards also gives a downward component of lift, which assists the elevators.

Quoting Flyf15 (Reply 1):All those control surfaces are deflected to help get that nose pointed up the second it leaves the ship... a very important thing to have happen. As the vertical stabs are angled outwards, deflecting both rudders inwards also gives a downward component of lift, which assists the elevators.

You are correct. The towing in of the rudders helps to lift the nose. You will also notice that as soon as the plane is airborne, the rudders go back to their normal position.

Quoting Contact_tower (Reply 2):The F-18 is on "autopilot" until it leaves the deck correct??? Hands off until you have positive rate of climb or something?

Sort of but not really. There is no "autopilot" button you push prior to the cat shot. You simply set the trim to a specific angle and the fly-by-wire system maintains that angle off the ship. You better believe that my hands are on that stick as soon as I feel the end of the cat stroke though.